Thumbelina
by Outtie
Summary: The untold story of Rumplestiltskin's first maid.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

It only took five minutes on the job for Onora to realize that she had made a fatal mistake; she was the maid of a madman...

Rumplestiltskin (the name should've been a clue right? Who names their kid that?) had come to the orphanage and asked for a mute girl to be a maid in his 'rather large' hovel; a flash of gold under the orphanage director's piggish eyes and she found herself being shoved through the door, nearly falling into the arms of a golden skinned man who claimed to be from the east (as if _that_ explained the scales). He'd caught her arm to stop her falling, but when she'd smiled at him to acknowledge his help, he had promptly pushed her away asked if there was another mute in the place, _'possibly one who is a little less... clumsy_.'

"I'm so sorry Sir," the director whined, his face falling as he felt the promised gold slipping from his pudgy hands. "But she is our only mute. We have several blind girls and a mad dame locked up in the old tower if that would suit your honor."

"I did ask for a _maid_." Rumple reminded him. "Blind and mad seem a bit of a stretch."

The director chewed his lips, desperately trying to think of a way to get his hands on that gold. "The girl is illiterate as well if that helps?"

Rumplestiltskin stroked his chin, either thinking over the issue or enjoying the director's flagging greed. "Sold!" he said at last. Earning a sigh of relief from the director and a small thrill of joy to Onora, who saw this strange man as her ticket out of this terrible place; she didn't know how people treated orphans in other lands, but in the Duke's kingdom they were shut up with the criminals and the mad and left to rot unless someone offered to take them off the Director's hands...for a price.

So that was that. Gold exchanged hands and she was for all intents and purposes the property of Rumplestiltskin.

)*(

The first thing he did once they reached his house was to demand she burn the smelly rags she was wearing and dress in the much cleaner rags he'd provided for her. Onora was only too happy to oblige; never before had she possessed such fine clothes, for to her they were as beautiful as any princess' robes and she was happy to serve such a kind master.

It seemed absurd to her that the villagers were afraid of this man, this kind man who saved them all from the ogres, who rescued poor orphans and who so clearly doted on his young son. Isolated as she was from society (for the people shunned her everywhere she went, though at first she believed it was because she was an orphan or mute and it was some time before she discovered the true reason for their behavior) she had no idea of her master's dark curse for he took pains never to do magic in front of 'the help', until one day she watched in horror as her master squashed the farmer he'd just turned into a snail. _Wasn't just being a snail punishment enough for whatever the man had done?_ she wondered. Still it wasn't her place to ask why and Rumplestiltskin was good to her so she tried to forget, but it was as if once opened to the true nature of her master, her eyes could see nothing else. She listened as he made deal after deal, always to his advantage and often cruel in detail, but it was the babies that broke her heart. She saw him trade away three infants to infertile nobles before she finally decided to leave. The poor peasants who traded their children to Rumplestiltskin for gold looked sad, not greedy to Onora and she couldn't bear to see another parting like the last one; the child had only been a few months old, but he seemed to know he was being taken away from his mother forever... the way he'd clung to her was a sight Onora would never be able to forget.

So at last she decided that Rumplestiltskin must be stopped! Quietly she listened to her master; she listened as he made his deals and as he talked to his son and even as he spun his wheel at night. Eventually she overheard him talking to his son about a dagger, Onora knew immediately which dagger they meant for her master was never apart from it and she had seen that his name was carved into the blade. Realizing that this dagger was the key to stopping her master's deals, Onora drew a picture of it, intending to take it into town and communicate with the villagers that somehow they must get this knife from her master so that they might be able to free themselves from his sway!

But she had been seen. Rumplestiltskin may not be able to read her mind, but he had noticed her newfound curiosity and matched it with a little of his own...

He asked her about her parents; whom she did not remember, her age; which was also unknown to her, how long she had lived at the orphanage... but all the poor mute girl could offer in reply to her master's questions was a shake of her fair head.

When he asked her about drawing, she thought she might faint. _How could he know?_

Rumplestiltskin held out his hand and a stack of paper appeared in it. He held up the top sheet for her inspection, it was a drawing of Rumplestilskin and Baelfire sitting by the fire. "It's really quite good." he told her. He held out another, this time of him sitting at his spinning wheel. "You have a remarkable eye for all those pesky little details."

The next drawing was of her master's own face, "I think I look rather dashing here don't you think?" he asked her. Onora blushed when she saw that drawing. That was one of the first drawings she made here, before she knew her master was a monster.

Noting his maid's flushed face he quipped, "Yes, well, there's no accounting for taste." and vanished the papers with a flick of his wrist.

Onora took a deep breath as a wave of relief washed over her. He hadn't found it.

Her relief was short lived as her master reached into his tunic and pulled out one last damning artwork. "Did you really think you could hide this from _me_?" he sneered, "What were you planning on doing... spreading all my secrets round the village? Or perhaps you planned to murder me in my sleep?" he giggled, "That one was a quip; you know I don't sleep." He raised his hand...

Remembering the farmer, Onora dropped to her knees in supplication before her master. She clutched at his hand trying to convey to him sorry she was.

"Relax, dearie...I'm not going to turn _you_ into a snail. Snails are common and have no value... however..." he waved his hand and wave of purple magic engulfed Onora, "...a tiny little girl no bigger than my thumb... why I'm sure I can get a tremendous deal for you, dearie..."

Onora gasped as the air was forced out of her shrinking lungs. She felt little else apart from an odd tingling sensation and for a brief horrifying moment as she watched her master grow into a veritable giant before her eyes, she feared he would squish her after all.

"Hmm...or should I call you..." he squints one eye and holds up his thumb in comparison to his newly tiny maid "...Thumbelina now?"

Thumbelina ran to hide behind the table, but Rumplestiltskin caught her easily holding her up between his fingers. As he held her, Rumplestiltskin grinned so wide that Thumbelina's squishy fears were immediately overrun by her new fear of being swallowed whole.

"Oh how very preciiiiious you look now, dearie." he paused, "Oh I do like the tone of that... preciiiiiiious... prreciiiouuus... oooh how delightful. I think I'll keep that one. Oh do stop struggling so dearie. I don't suppose you'll be much use as a maid now that you're _wee_ , but I could always sell you as a pet to some lonely ogre somewhere..."

Thumbelina blanched and kicked wildly with no plan as to what she would do if Rumplestiltskin dropped her.

But it seemed that dropping, squishing and ogres weren't in her master's plans after all. At least not today. Instead he produced a tiny golden cage with a wave of his vast hand. He placed the cage in front of her on his palm and beckoned her inside; Thumbelina trembled as she entered her new golden prison, suddenly feeling very sorry for the orphanage's canary.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Tucked into Rumplestiltskin's pocket, she held on for dear life as the world shook around her with every step of her master's boots. She thought she heard Baelfire's voice, but it was so muffled that he seemed far away from her and even if she _could_ scream, would the child of The Dark One help her? Thumbelina thought he might. She'd observed that her master's son cared not for magic, but to cross one's father was a taboo even an orphan understood and when one's father happened to be The Dark One... she felt could expect no help from him.

When the shaking finally ceased, Thumbelina blinked at the sudden light which entered her dark little pocket world as her master put in his hand and placed her cage onto a long wooden table in the middle of a cavernous room.

"How do you like my new home, pet?" he asked, gesturing at the expansive room, "It would probably take you a year to clean this one room; at your current size of course." Thumbelina stuck her head through the bars and looked around. The room was long and reminded her of the dining hall at the orphanage. Though this room, even in its bare state was clearly on a grander scale.

Rumple giggled and she realized that she must look very silly indeed as she craned her neck through the bars of her cage to gawk at the colossal grandeur of the room. He snapped his fingers and the little door of her cage swung open.

Thumbelina was quick to exit, her fear of being swallowed having long since passed into a fear of never getting out of the dark one's pocket again. "What do you think, pet... should the room be red," he snapped his fingers and the room was instantly decorated in plush red velvet, "Or ...GOLD!" he snapped his fingers again and the room glowed with gold on every surface. Thumbelina had never even imagined as much gold as this, oh what she could do with just one golden curtain tie! She looked at her master, he seemed to be expecting an answer. She placed her hand on her throat to remind her master that she was a mute.

Rumple giggled, "I guess asking a mute her opinion _is_ a rather silly thing to do... very well." he snapped his fingers for a third time, "Alright, dearie. I've given you a voice, no need to thank me and I'm sure the person I took it from will never notice, well not until _they_ try to say something." He must've read the confusion on her face because he added, "That last one was a quip, dearie. Not serious. Now..." Rumple bent forward and lowered his gigantic head onto the table and she knew he expected her to answer his question. So as she gazed into her master's enormous yellow eyes Thumbelina spoke her very first words.

"I - I like the gold better." she said, hearing her own voice as if a stranger.

)*(

The next day Rumplestiltskin brought his son, Baelfire to see the castle he was building.

Rumplestiltskin entered leading his son, whose eyes were tightly closed, by the arm. "Just a few more steps Bae, we're almost there." he said, gently leading his son into the grand entryway of their new home. "There we are... open your eyes son!"

Rumplestiltskin beamed as he watched his son's astonished appreciation of their new home. "A bit better than our old hovel don't you think?"

Baelfire continued to stare at the grand new castle his father had built, mentally he counted the doors leading off the entryway and at the grand winding staircase that wound its way up to a second floor balcony lined with yet more elaborate doors. He didn't quite know what to say. Certainly it was the grandest place he'd ever set foot in, he'd love to explore all the rooms and oh the fun he and his friends could have playing here...but he knew none of his old friends would come near this place. It stunk of magic and as he realized this, the grand beautiful castle ceased to look like an adventure and instead it felt empty; a soulless shell of a building that no children would ever play in. His father noticed the change in his expression and asked, "What's the matter, Bae? Is it not right? Do-do you want me to change the colors? Or add on a few more rooms? Should there be a fountain?..."

"Its fine, papa." he said, unsure of how to explain the way he felt. He just wanted to be ordinary again. Somehow even fighting in a hopeless war against the ogres sounded better than being alone forever in a grand castle like this one.

"We-we can change anything you like, Bae." he stammered, "Or knock the whole thing down and start again if you'd like." He raised his golden hand which was already glowing with magic, primed for destroying or re-designing their house at his son's behest.

"No papa! Its fine just the way it is. You don't need to use any more magic!"

"Oh," Rumplestiltskin lowered his hand, the magic dissipating unused. "Well... I have another surprise for you, Bae!" he said, changing the subject, "A little friend for you to play with..." he pointed over to the table which Baelfire approached cautiously, wondering what on earth his papa could have done now."

"Hel-hello Baelfire. How nice to see you again." a tiny voice spoke from the table.

At first Baelfire could not understand where the voice had come from, but as he reached the table he realized that it had come from a tiny little person standing in front of a golden cage. "Who...who are you?!" he asked.

"Don't you recognize me?" she asked, sounding slightly hurt.

Baelfire leaned in closer and squinted his eyes, "Onora?! You're alive?! But I thought papa... how?!" this last he addressed to his father, who was standing at his side looking hopeful.

"I spared her life, Bae." he said, proud to have done something to make his son happy, "True, I couldn't let her tell the villagers about my dagger... but that didn't mean she had to die."

"So you _shrunk_ her instead?!" Baelfire didn't sound as if he thought this a much better option.

"Ye-es" he admitted, "But I also gave her a lovely voice and this can be her home as well as ours."

"I don't know that I want to live here." said Baelfire softly. "It doesn't feel like a home to me."

His papa shook his head in confusion, "You would rather live in the hovel again?"

"Yes. Yes I would, papa."

"But this is so much better!"

"It's not my home! My friends would never come here!"

"They're more than welcome, son. In fact I'd be glad to add on some extra bedrooms just for them if you want them to stay."

"You don't understand, papa! They won't come."

"Won't they?" the little maid asked, in her tiny new voice.

Baelfire shook his head sadly, "They won't come." he repeated, "Papa... I'm going home now. I - I don't like this place. It just doesn't feel like home." he turned away from his papa's disappointed face and addressed the thumb-sized maid formerly known as Onora, "I'm glad you're ok." he said, and avoiding looking at his papa, Baelfire left the castle to walk back into the village.

The little maid gazed sadly at her unhappy master, feeling strangely sorry for him in spite of everything. He might be a monster, but it was clear that even he had a heart and at the moment it looked as if it might break.

"Ma-maybe we could fix it up." she said, trying to quell the fear she felt in addressing the dark one directly, "Make it a bit more... homey?"

Rumplestiltskin stared at her for a moment, not really seeing her, but instead seeing a new plan forming in his mind's eye. "Yes... it might work." he said, more to himself than to his maid.

Though she very much doubted that it would, Thumbelina was happy to see the dark look pass out of her master's eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

In the morning the little maid awoke to a surprise; a tiny castle was sitting just outside her cage door. Cautiously she tried the cage door and she found to her astonishment that it was no longer locked and swung open at a touch. She approached the little castle; it was a perfect replica of her master's castle in miniature from the turrets to the dungeon. She spent the morning wandering the halls, exploring all the rooms, which like her master's castle itself, were still mostly bare of furniture, the exception being her master's laboratory which was already fully furnished with tables, shelves and chairs all overflowing with magic texts and mystic vials; she ran her fingers along the piles of books and scrolls. They were pretty enough, but as she could not read these items meant little to her. Leaving the books, Thumbelina next approached the potion wall and ran her fingers over the labels. Many had writing on them, which again meant nothing to her, but there were also a great many that had pictures on their labels and it was one of these she opened, eagerly basking in the warmth of the sun shining out of the bottle. As the moon bottle was right next to the sun bottle it was natural enough that this would be the next bottle she opened, but it would prove to be her undoing.

As soon as the cork left the bottle the room plunged into impenetrable darkness! Using her new voice in a way she didn't know she could, Thumbelina screamed in fear.

As the echoes of her scream died away, she noticed a soft silvery glow was now emanating from the moon bottle. It didn't take the darkness away, but it was enough to let her see her way around the lab and just as she was about to the exit through the door so that she could find somewhere to hide... she heard a great voice in the darkness instruct her to 'open the sun bottle you little fool'. Cursing her stupidity, Thumbelina quickly crossed back to the shelves and uncorked the sun. Though her moon bottle still glowed faintly in her hand, the sun had easily overpowered it and restored the dawn. Swallowing down her fear, Thumbelina re-corked the moon bottle and carefully put it back on the shelf. The sun she also replaced, realizing that as it was daytime, no magic was needed to keep it so.

Rumplestiltskin was waiting for her outside the tiny castle at the edge of his long banquet table. His arms were folded across his chest and his expression was stern.

"I trust you've learned your lesson about _dabbling_ in magic, dearie." he said.

Thumbelina nodded outwardly eager to be forgiven, though inside she wondered

Rumplestiltskin uncrossed his arms, "Good. Remember dearie... all magic comes at a price! ...Fortunately the magic stored in that little lab is proportionate to yourself and thus limited to this room. We wouldn't want the neighbors to come calling in wondering why the day went suddenly dark now do we?" lecture duly given, he held out his hand and beckoned his tiny maid to climb on. "Come along pet," he said, "I'm decorating Bae's room today and I simply have no idea which toys he would like best..."

Thumbelina only half-listened to her master prattle on and on about boys and their toys. It seemed strange to her that one so powerful would rely on his maid for decorative advice, but she soon understood that for all his power, Rumplestiltskin was very insecure about his son's affection. As if he didn't think Bae would like anything he chose simply because he was the one choosing it.

She wondered how any father would doubt the love of his son, but the simple truth was that as an orphan herself she had no more knowledge of the motional dynamics between fathers and sons than she did of fathers and daughters. So instead she turned her thoughts to the warning Rumplestiltskin had given her about magic... She certainly had learned something. She'd learned that she must learn to read if she was to have any hope of making herself big again. If her master was going to allow her access to his magical texts in her miniature prison than she was jolly well going to learn to read them!

)*(

Knowing she needed help to learn to read, she turned to Baelfire, who though he disliked the castle and still refused to live there, was happy to help her, stopping by for lessons any time his papa was away on business.

And thus began Thumbelina's education.

)*(

"Have you ever heard of Reul Ghorm, Thumbelina?" Baelfire asked, during one of their sporadic reading sessions.

Thumbelina had heard of the Reul Ghorm, but she could add little to what his friend Morraine had told him. Reul Ghorm was a powerful being of some kind that children sometimes called out to for help. But of course she had never heard of anyone who claimed that Reul Ghorm had actually appeared.

"But I don't suppose you have anything to lose." she told him.

"No. I suppose I don't." he replied sadly. "I just wish things could be the way they were!"

Thumbelina wished she was tall enough to wipe away Baelfire's tears, but she wasn't and unless she learned a very great deal more about magic she never would be. So instead she simply leaned up against his arm and asked him to tell her about who his papa had been before the dagger.

)*(

Knowledge of her master's past, that he hadn't always been a magician, but had actually been a good and loving man before he was cursed, had softened him somewhat in her eyes and slowly she began to like him, choosing to look past the scales and see the man had been. It helped that he was too preoccupied with his castle to make many deals and so slowly the memory of those poor babies being bought and sold faded.

And though her clandestine lessons with Baelfire continued, she no longer burned to escape her prison, feeling oddly contented with her new lot in life, a lot which was after all better than living in the orphanage and the truth was that now that she could read about the outside world, she was experiencing considerable doubt about how she could survive on her own if she escaped. Even if she was big again, the only skill she had was that of a maid and she didn't particularly want to go back to that kind of hard life when she had a warm bed and plenty to eat here.

Since Baelfire never spoke of Reul Ghorm again, she believed that he had tried and failed to find help from her; just as the children in her orphanage had tried and failed to get help.

)*(

Her master clearly loved performing magic; he dazzled her daily adding one room on top of another, filling it with opulent furnishings, only to the replace them with a simpler style at her suggestion. The two settled into a sort of uneasy friendship or whatever you call it when one person could squish the other one at will and the squishable one chooses not to dwell on that fact and instead enjoyed the nicest time she's had in her entire life.

"What would you wish for?" her Master asked her one day.

"Nothing." Thumbelina replied hastily, worried that perhaps he had found out about her reading lessons and that hazy old plan to learn magic so that she could make herself normal again and escape from the dark castle.

Rumplestiltskin lowered his head to stare at his tiny maid, "Nothing? Surely everyone wants something. Do you have no dreams, no hopes?"

She shook her head, retreating into her old muteness when she felt stressed.

"I never took you for a simpleton." he said, looking vaguely disappointed.

"I'm not a simpleton!" she said, anger loosening her tongue.

"Then tell me what you would wish for and be it not to escape from this place...I will grant it."

Thumbelina struggled to think of something to say, "I um... I always wished I could sing. The not talking I didn't mind so much. It encouraged people to leave me alone and in the orphanage being alone was a privilege rarely granted and music was as hard to come by as laughter there."

Rumple smiled and waved his hand, "All right." he said, "You can now sing like a nightingale."

And sing she did. The whole day long as they went about choosing furniture and draperies she sang. Her master didn't seem to mind and her voice never grew tired. Not being used to speaking at length, let alone singing for long periods, she did not realize that her voice was magical and therefore untiring. She simply knew that singing made her happy and that she was home.

That night when the little maid could no longer keep her eyes open, Rumplestiltskin (who seemed to require no sleep, just as his maid's new voice required no rest) carried her back to the big wooden table and nudged her still singing softly though she was half-asleep on her feet, through a window into her bed and gently pulled the covers over her.

)*(

In the woods The Blue Fairy (otherwise known as Reul Ghorm) watched stone-faced as the boy fell through the portal alone, leaving the Dark One behind, still a plague upon her realm.

She would simply have to find another way to defeat The Dark One. Too bad there was no one else The Dark One loved that she could use to trick him out of The Enchanted Forest. "And there never will be." she mourned, "For who could ever learn to love a beast..."

)*(

Rumplestiltskin returned home a broken man. The loss of his son was a burden too great for any creature to bear. And he had no one to blame but himself. It did not occur to him to blame the dagger for his pain; he had never truly considered himself to be cursed. He treasured the power; the power had saved his son...saved all the sons and daughters of his village from the beastly ogres. Why would anyone wish him free of it?

Thumbelina was shocked to see her master so changed and when he told her what had happened to his son, she was so wracked with guilt over her small part in the events that she immediately confessed her part in advising Bae to seek out Reul Ghorm.

"...But I never thought for a moment that she was real! She certainly never bothered to help anyone else who called on her as far as I know." Thumbelina wept.

As if a switch had just been flipped in his mind, Rumple turned all his rage and anger and sorrow on his tiny maid, blaming her for everything.

"You wanted to sing?" he said to her as she cowered before him, "Well I will grant you that wish for all eternity!" without warning Rumple clapped his hands together over Thumbelina and in an instant she felt her legs stiffen and her back curve as her master turned her into a golden harp.

Thumbelina tried to apologize, but all that came out was a discordant note from her new strings.

)*(

Feeling less human and with a new purpose, Rumplestiltskin walked into the woods and called on the being who was truly to blame for his pain...

"Reul Ghorm! Show yourself!" A fairy dressed in blue appears, "How do I follow him?" Rumple growled. 

"You had the way you didn't take it. And there are no more magic beans."

"That's a lie."

"We don't do that." 

"A lie."

"You'll never make it to that world."

"Oh, I'll find a way. There must be other paths. A realm jumper?" the blue fairy shook her head, "A time turner?"

The fairy denied every suggestion.

"A curse?"

The blue fairy hesitated, "No."

"Ah, so it is a curse." Rumplestiltskin confirmed triumphantly.

"Of course you would think of a curse instead of a blessing. Your magic is limited by its own rotten core, Rumpelstiltskin. Anyway, it can't be done. Not without a great price."

"I've already paid a great price."

"So, you'd be willing to sacrifice this world for the next? Because that's how great the price is."

"Well, what do you think?"

"Well, then I'll comfort myself knowing that such a curse is beyond your abilities."

"Oh, for now. But I've got all the time in the world. I will do nothing else, I will love nothing else. I will find a way. You took my son, but I will get him back."

"I didn't take your son."

"You took my son! but I will get him back!"

"You drove him away." she said, escaping before the dark one could cut her wings off with his filthy dagger.

"I will find him!" Rumplestiltskin ragged as the fairy flew swiftly away from him, "I will find him! I will find him!"

He did not know how he would get Bae back and what curse the fairy had alluded too, but he would find a way. No matter how long it took.

)*(

As he reentered the dark castle Rumplestiltskin heard a sad tune playing and he remembered his maid. He felt no regret over his actions, at the moment all he feels is vengeance; even so as he listened to the sad tune play throughout the night, interrupting the one joy he had in spinning his wheel, he has a very real desire to get rid of the golden harp and forget that Onora or Thumbelina had ever existed.

"You're going to sell me?" the golden strings hummed as she sang her question.

"Don't fret so, dearie. You might pop a string and how valuable will you be then?"

"I don't think I like the idea of being sold."

"Not up to you. Besides, you're going to love living with the giants."

"I will?"

"No. That one was a lie. Clever of you to guess though. Oh by the way..." he waved his hand. "I think it's time I took back my gift. You won't need it where you're going anyway."

She tried to speak, but no sound came from her stiff golden mouth and so The Golden Harp wept out a sad tune instead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The giants' castle was high above the clouds and as you might expect it was ever so much larger than Rumplestiltskin's castle. To her surprise the giants were not cruel to her. They valued all things made of gold and though they weren't much for making music themselves, they seemed to find her music soothing after a long day in the bean-fields. The head-giant in particular liked to listen to her sad songs and he often rewarded her with a nice polish in the evening. Although she no longer needed or desired food, she did so hate to be dirty and dull and she loved the shine of her metal skin after a good rub down with oil. At first she had been utterly unable to move a muscle and so her eyes were stuck open all day and night, which took some getting used to, but she quickly found that in her altered state she didn't require sleep either and after a time (and a great deal of practice) she found her could close her eyes if she tried really hard and even wiggle her fingers a little, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never separate herself from the golden harp and after a time she ceased to try.

)*(

The years past and the giant who had bought her from Rumplestiltskin died and passed his prized possessions down to the next generation and they in turn passed her down to the next and so on until eventually there came a family of giants that did not remember her and so she was left to play her sad songs to a room full of lifeless unhearing golden treasures.

Often in this time she tried to call on Reul Ghorm to end her seemingly endless suffering, surely she owed her that much? But still she could not speak and though she had learned many melodies about the blue star, none of them seemed to work. The fairy never appeared. And so she waited, playing her sad melodies and longing to be polished...until one day a rather nasty young woman and even nastier man broke into the giant's castle and stole her away.

And so she ended up on a shelf in Prince James' room and after a few weeks of watching what went on in _there_ she actually longed to return to the giant's lonely treasure room. The prince didn't know she could sing or even that she was a living breathing (after a fashion) person. She took pains to be silent whenever he was in the room so that he would not realize that she was a live creature and not simply a valuable hunk of metal; and if he looked at her she would stare strait out without blinking and if he tried to play her she endeavored to make to the notes tinny and unappealing so that he would leave her alone.

But then one day the prince changed. He was no longer the brash, arrogant delinquent she'd known, but a fine kind shepherd who had been placed in this mess by none other than her old master...Rumplestiltskin!

She longed to speak to him and tell him her sad tale, but she was bound by magic only to play and as far as she knew there were no songs about Rumplestiltskin.

Though he did not understand the melodies she played for him, David liked them very much and he believed that such a golden treasure would certainly please Midas' daughter; for surely even King Midas had no such treasure as this!

She wept a sad tune at the news that she was to be sold...well _given_ away this time, but the shepherd only thought that the strange magical harp was reflecting his own sadness and thus he failed to notice that the golden woman which framed his harp was suddenly weeping real tears.

She wept for some time, her tears splashing down like cymbal clashes to accompany her sad melody and once more in her desperation she called upon Reul Ghorm to release her from her golden prison, playing an old song about the Blue Fairy who watched over children as they slept.

Great was her astonishment when, after centuries of waiting, the blue fairy finally appeared.

"Why so sad, little one?" the blue fairy asked in a deceptively sympathetic voice.

Still unable to speak, her strings plucked out a discordant melody mainly made out of high surprised notes, but underlined with deep notes of fear and awe.

The blue fairy looked confused for a moment, but understanding quickly dawned and she tapped her wand gently against poor Thumbelina's golden lips.

"Th...thank you." Thumbelina said, gratitude in every tone of the rich beautiful voice her master had given her so long ago. Before he had betrayed her.

"I sensed your great pain and anger and I have to tell you that you absolutely MUST not attempt to get your revenge on Rumplestiltskin. The Beast is even more powerful now than when you knew him, Little Harp, and even were you to play upon his weakness for news of his long lost son...I'm sure it would only end in pain and death for you..."

"I can manage it if you'll help me Mistress Blue!" The golden harp cried, conveniently forgetting Reul Ghorm's part in the loss of her friend Baelfire, "Release me from my golden prison and I shall find a way to stop Rumplestiltskin! I have read many magical texts over many a giant's shoulder in my long lifetime and I believe I have found a solution that can ensnare this treacherous creature for all time!"

The Blue Fairy shook her head sadly, "No little one. You must not do this. Any magic that still resides with the giants will have been contaminated by darkness."

"No you're wrong! I know that most people think that giants are stupid and mean, but I lived among them for many years and I know that most of them are much brighter and far kinder than anyone down below would believe. They would never keep...well maybe _keep_ , but never would they read...'er well they would never USE a book of dark magic spells! No indeed for most of their magic is geared towards the upper lands where they farm their bean-fields and it is just such a _white_ magic spell that I believe can contain my master's dark magic... but first...please Mistress Blue...please. Make me human again..."

The Blue Fairy smiled, this was a rare chance. True, it was doubtful that this little The Golden Harp would be able to stop The Dark One from casting the dark curse and ripping them all from this realm, but it was possible that this long-lived creature might know more than its appearance suggested and even if she failed, she might at least slow The Dark One down long enough for the fairies to mount a defense to his plans...

"Your wish is granted my child." she said and with a wave of her wand, the former maid of The Dark One, was human once more.

"Thank you, Reul Ghorm!" the little maid cried.

"You're welcome my child and please...call me Blue."

"But...I'm still tiny!" Thumbelina cried, as she realized that though she was human again, her size had not been restored.

"I'm sorry my child, but you must be good if you wish to grow. Magic has rules you know."

Thumbelina sighed, "Oh, I'm very aware of the rules of magic. I just thought maybe you would know a loophole..." she said hopefully stressing the last word.

"Loopholes are really more of a dark magic thing." said Blue.

"But how can I defeat Rumplestiltskin if it takes me a year to walk from one village to the next?!"

Blue smiled, "I'm more than happy to give you a lift to the dark castle. Do you need anything else?"

"Just get me to the castle, mistress Blue. Rumplestiltskin will have everything I need."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

The Blue Fairy was only willing to fly so close to the dark castle and so she left Thumbelina at the edge of the clearing adjacent to his castle and bid her good luck before flying swiftly away again as fast as her wings would fly.

Knowing she had a long night and possibly a long day ahead of her and feeling rather abandoned by the fairies, Thumbelina began her long journey across the meadow to the castle she had once, a long time ago, briefly and perhaps foolishly thought of as her home.

)*(

To say the journey across the Dark One's meadow was an arduous one for tiny Thumbelina would be an understatement, but after two days of hiking through dense grass which was as tall and as thick as a forest to her...Thumbelina arrived at the dark castle.

She shimmied through the crack under the great doors and found herself, for the first time in well over a century; standing in the very hall Rumplestiltskin had carried her into in a golden cage so very long ago.

She reached the mini lab unchallenged after an arduous climb up the cabinet to where the mini castle now stood (Well she could hardly expect him to have kept it on the table all this time) and began to brew her potion. It looked sickly and smelled worse, but it had the desired effect. She smiled as she watched the vines snake out and completely envelop the full-sized chair she tested her potion on in just a few brief seconds. Not bad for a first try. Now for the real test. She added the second potion she'd mixed and watched in satisfaction as the vine enshrouded chair shrunk down until it was small enough for Thumbelina herself to sit on.

The Dark One was away when she'd arrived, which probably explained how she managed to get this far unchallenged, so once she had her potions right (she hoped!) she was forced to wait for Rumplestiltskin to return.

Fortunately the long years spent alone in the giant's treasure room had given her patience if nothing else and so Thumbelina did not mind the waiting. She spent her time in her favorite daydream, where she towered over the mighty Rumplestiltskin, now reduced down to her own size...no! Even smaller! And as she held his _preciiiious_ dagger over him...oh how he would beg and plead for her mercy!

So intent was she on finishing Rumplestiltskin off in her dream that she almost missed the arrival of the real Rumplestiltskin who had _poofed_ himself home after a pleasant afternoon of toying with Prince Charming in an unending forest, and begun spinning at his wheel almost immediately. Perfect. He should be off his guard then.

Carefully Thumbelina climbed down to the floor, her potions safely corked and hanging by her side. Slowly and with utmost caution she approached her old master and upon reaching him she ever so smugly poured the contents of the first potion bottle on the toe of his boot.

Immediately Rumplestiltskin leapt to his feet and growled, "Who did that?!" he cried spinning uselessly about the apparently empty room as the vines wound about him, pinning his arms to his sides in seconds. Angry and unable to move his extremities, he hopped up and down smashing a hole of irritation in his floor. It was from his new vantage point standing in that hole that he finally saw the tiny little woman who was responsible for his current predicament.

"You?! How did you escape from the giants?! When did YOU learn magic?! Why aren't you a harp anymore?!"

"All valid questions... _Master_." she said, adding a saucy little bow to accompany the last word. "And I'll be glad to answer your questions as soon as you answer mine... Where...is...your...dagger?"

"So that's your aim...remember all magic comes with a price, _dearie_ and I don't think you'd enjoy the paying of it!"

"Dagger?" she repeated holding out the second bottle of potion for him to see.

"Not a chance, Dearie. You'll never get your teeeeny tiiiiny hands on my dagger and what would be the point anyway? At your size you'd never even get your iiiitty biiiitty hands around the handle and you cannot control a blade you cannot wield!"

"Oh can't I?" she said in the sweet musical voice Rumplestiltskin had given to her. Slowly she uncorked the second potion and flung it on his legs.

"Stop!" Rumplestiltskin yelled impotently as he began to shrink and shrink until he too was no larger than a thumb.

"How about now?" Thumbelina cried gaily into the hole her tiny former master now lay at the bottom of...trussed up like a sacrificial pig.

"Ooh, it's filthy down there isn't it?" she said looking at the dust and cobwebs he was laying in, "Looks like you need a new maid, Rumple."

"Oh by the way... I was stolen. Over the years. And... Reul Ghorm."

"Wh-a-a-t-t?!"

"The answers to the three questions you asked me when you were still big. I was stolen from the giants by the horrid Prince James. I learned magic here and there over the years thanks to your replica laboratory and the giants taste in bedtime reading. And it was The Blue Fairy who freed me from my golden prison."

"HER! You trusted HER after what she did?!" he said, still struggling to free himself from the vines to no avail.

"Well, desperate times and all that... so...about that dagger..."

"I can see you don't know the first thing about _fairies_ dearie. They can't be trusted."

"The blue one seems to have done alright by me. Maybe it's just you."

"Do you think she'll help you grow up if you be a 'good little girl' and give her my dagger? Well she won't! Fairies do not care about humans. They only care about magic and making sure theirs is the most powerful in the land...and of protecting their damned dust monopoly!"

"You're wrong about Blue; she helped me. She..."

"Did she help you?" he asked, "Because you still look like a sad tiny Thumbelina to me."

"I'm leaving." she said coolly, "Blue will send some fairies to collect you in a few hours and if there's any justice in this world than they will lock you up in a golden prison for the next century or two and see how you like it."

As she turned to leave, Rumplestiltskin's defiance changed into sobs. "You can't leave me here! Can't stop me when I'm so close...not after all this time."

"Close to what? Destroying this entire realm?! Blue told me your plans..."

"To finding my son!"

"Baelfire", she whispered the long ago name under her breath, unable to grasp the words tightly to her mind. "Baelfire is alive?! How?"

"I don't know." he replied with a soft sob still stuck in his throat. "I only know that he IS alive. My vision of the future is murky at the best of times and worse when it comes to my son."

"You can see the future?!"

"Only in pieces. I helped a blind seer once upon a time and she rewarded me with her gift upon her death."

"That explains why you didn't see me coming I suppose. I'm rather a tiny piece among the jumble...Did you kill her then? This blind seer person I mean."

"Go ahead and assume the worst of me. I'm used to that. But don't let some lying fairy trick you into stopping me from finding my son."

Thumbelina paused a bit to think on this one. It's true that The Blue Fairy hadn't made her big again like she'd asked, but maybe that magic too had a price and she was doing her a favor by making her work for it on her own. But if magic was so dangerous than why would she allow her to come here knowing her plan involved such powerful magical potions? But could she really believe Rumplestiltskin, the monster who had shrunk her down to the size of his thumb and turned her into a golden harp? She felt a deep sympathy for him over the loss of his son. She had liked Baelfire a great deal, he was the only person who had ever truly been kind to her in her life without expecting a thing in return and as much as she would like to deny it she did feel guilty over Baelfire's loss. It was she who had encouraged him to seek out The Blue Star... Thumbelina sighed. She knew she was going to regret this.

)*(

Once Thumbelina had freed him from the magic vines, Rumplestiltskin led the way to the tiny recreation of his laboratory in the rather small castle where he explained to Thumbelina how to prepare the potion to make them both big again.

"Can't you just flick your wrist or something? I mean that's how you shrunk me in the first place..."

"Shrinking is easier than growing. Don't ask me why because your questions are pointless." Carefully Rumple poured the ingredients he'd gathered from around the tiny lab into a larger bottle containing what looked like water, though Thumbelina was pretty sure it wasn't given the reaction which foamed up so quickly that she feared it would overrun the bottle. But the potion did not overrun the bottle and soon the foamy potion settled down into a contented glowing green.

"Shall we try it?" she asked.

"Don't be foolish, my dear. If we tried it in here we would destroy the little castle on our way up. Let's go outside."

Taking his former maids hand, Rumple poofed them both down to the floor of his dining room and after a quick swig of potion each, he and Thumbelina began to grow and grow until they reached full size together.

An ecstatic Thumbelina hugged him impulsively, happy to feel normal again after being thumb-sized for so long.

Though Rumple endured the hug, but took no part in it, _What is it with maids wanting to hug me?_ he wondered. _Though it does feel rather nice to be touched...mustn't think of Belle! She's gone and no one else can take her place!_ Feeling uncharacteristically guilty over what he was planning on doing to this particular maid, Rumple pushed her away and asked her a question.

"Would you like a new name, dearie? I mean it seems silly to call a full grown person _Thumb_ elina..."

"I actually don't mind the name, I've gotten rather used to thinking of myself that way. But perhaps it is time to become Onora again."

"You could certainly go back to using the boring meaningless name they gave you at that awful orphanage or..." he paused, "You could go for a name with a little more...meaning. A little more...pizzazz. Have you ever heard the legend of Pandora?" he asked her.

"No. I can't say that I have. Who was she?"

"She was a curious woman...no sense to her at all. There was a box supposed to be containing all the evil in the world and she _just couldn't_ _resist_ looking inside."

"What happened to her? Did the evil inside consume her?"

"No. In fact she wasn't even hurt. She was left inside the box with hope as her only companion."

"Well at least she wasn't alone."

"Yes...unfortunately..." Rumple held out his hand and a jeweled box appeared upon his palm, "...I don't think Hope is dwelling inside this any longer. It escaped long ago with Pandora, so I'm afraid you will just have to keep yourself company for the next couple of decades. But you should be used to that..."

Before she could even scream for help, Thumbelina felt herself shrinking again and just as she was once more the size of her master's thumb she felt herself stretch into a ribbon and wind her way into the dark hopeless abyss of Pandora's Box.

Rumplestiltskin carefully set the box down on a table, "I'm truly sorry dearie." he said placing a golden scaled hand on top of the box, "But I can't take the chance of letting you leave. Not when I'm so close. Don't worry. You're going to love the land without magic..."

)*(

Inside the box was an endless stretch of darkness. Belatedly regretting her decision to help Rumplestiltskin, she cried out for The Blue Fairy to rescue her. But of course no one came. Just as she was about to give in and have a really killer pity party for herself...a small speck of light appeared in the darkness. Having little else to occupy her time; Thumbelina starting walking towards the light.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

THIRTY YEARS LATER IN NEVERLAND

 _"Hello, laddie. Oh, I see you've come bearing gifts."_

 _"Where's Henry?"_

 _"Oh, you mean my great-grandson? You still haven't told the others who I really am?"_

 _"Not even your own son. Why?"_

 _"Because you're nothing but a coward to me."_

 _"We both know if that were true, I'd already be in that box."_

 _"You don't think I can do it? You let me inside just to, uh, taunt me?"_

 _"No. To see you again, to give you ONE last chance. Stay with me. Let this go. Let's start over."_

 _"Do you think I want to be with you? That I could ever forgive you after you abandoned me?"_

 _"I'm disappointed, Rumple. After all these years, I thought you'd be more...understanding, considering YOU did the same thing to your son. You traded Baelfire for the power of a dagger, and I traded you for youth. We're a lot more alike than you care to admit"._

 _"We are nothing alike"._

 _"Oh, of course we are. And it's nothing to be ashamed of. Neither one of us was cut out to be a father, m'boy"._

 _"I regretted leaving my son the moment I let him go. I spent my life trying to find him, to get him back. And what did you do? You forgot about me."_

 _"I never forgot about you! Why do you think I call myself 'Peter Pan'?"_

 _"Don't think for a moment I believe it's because you care for me."_

 _"But I do. All you have to do is put down that box, and you'll see it's true. We can make the fresh start you always wanted, together, just as we planned."_

 _"Oh, I'm gonna make a fresh start. Just not with you." (Rumple tries to open Pandora's Box but it won't open because it's a fake) "I don't understand."_

 _"'Cause you don't have it."_

 _"You switched them?"_

 _"Follow the lady. Still having trouble believing. In Neverland, all you have to do is think of something to have it. Even something fake. (Chuckles) But the real one... Well, let's see what it can do."_

 _"No!"Rumple cried as he was sucked into the box._

 _"I'm sorry, Rumple. You had your chance. The choice was yours."_

Inside the box was an endless stretch of darkness. He couldn't see anything, but the ground beneath his feet felt solid enough. He took a few tentative steps and found that he could walk, though where he was going was another matter. He cursed his father and he cursed himself for hesitating to gloat. He'd thought he'd won the day and had just wanted to see his father's face when he realized his 'laddie' was finally getting him back... _I deserve the darkness. What else could a man like me expect?_ Then in the distance he saw lights dancing in the dark; he hurried his steps until he was nearly running and then suddenly his bad leg gave way and he fell down on his face. Cursing his fate once more, he struggled to rise, but his bad leg would not hold him and it seemed his magic had deserted him as well. So progressing ever so slowly he pulled himself towards the dancing lights until he felt a fierce heat beginning to sting at his fingertips as pulled himself forward once more.

FIRE!

The light was fire and it barred his passage onward with a vicious heat. He tried to turn away, but the fire was now behind him as well as before and as he watched in horror the flames began to lick their way closer. Tasting him...consuming...

"Well well well...isn't this a pretty sight." a beautifully musical voice called out from beyond the flames and for the first time in two centuries Rumplestiltskin found himself begging for help. "Please!" he begged, "Save me!"

"Why should I?" the voice asked as a solitary figured appeared, walking through the blaze as if it did not burn her at all. "After all it was YOU who trapped me here... _Master_." Thumbelina mocked him with a bow.

"How are you walking through that?! The fire is hot enough to strip the flesh from your bones!"

"Ah, yes...the fire..." she giggled, "Perhaps the fire _is_ what you deserve Dark One. It's clearly what you think you deserve anyway."

"You're right! I it is what I deserve, but can you blame me for being afraid?!"

"Rumplestiltskin...afraid? Now this I have to see!" Thumbelina snapped her fingers and the two of them were suddenly in a cozy little room sitting beside a roaring, yet mercifully contained fire (in its place) holding teacups. Rumple's hands shook as she filled his cup to the brim. She set the teapot down and lifted his face up using the tip of her index finger. "To think I've lived long enough to see Rumplestiltskin cry." she whispered, looking at his tearstained face. He looked so pitiful with his big brown eyes spilling over with tears that she actually lost her urge to fling the scalding hot tea in his face.

"What happened, dearie?" she asked, "Finally meet someone bigger and badder than yourself? Or have you just dropped in to visit me? Maybe to ...apologize?" she hinted raising her own perfect temperature tea to her lips.

"My...father...put me in here." he said through trembling lips.

"Your father?!" she gasped, nearly spitting out her tea, "Imagine YOU having a father..." she thought for a moment, "But I guess it fits at that. Apples not falling far from trees and all that."

"Don't talk to me about apples! I've gone off 'em. And I definitely don't want to talk about my father."

"Ok. No more mentioning apples." she said, taking a big wet bite from a shiny red apple that suddenly appeared in her hand.

"I see you've gone past spells and potions and jumped right to hand magic." Rumple commented with a weak glare at the apple.

Thumbelina smiled and took another bite of her apple.

"So, you've been in here for awhile..."

"Thirty years."

"...Hmm. Yes. Give or take." he mumbled into his tea, "Awhile anyway." She shrugged her shoulders and took another bite of her apple, which he noted seemed never to become smaller no matter how many bites she took. "Do you have any idea how we can escape from here?" she raised an eyebrow, but kept eating, so he continued, the words tumbling out almost of their own accord, "Only my grandson is in rather terrible danger from my father..."

"Nice family you have." she commented between bites. "Wait you have a grandson! Does that mean you found Baelfire after all?!"

"...and I need to get out of here so that I can save him and _his_ son." he swallowed, knowing his next words were unlikely to bear fruit, "Can you help me...please?" he added the please as an afterthought. Other than to get his way with Regina, it wasn't a word he counted amongst his favorites.

She laughed, "Fancy you asking me that. We're in YOUR box! You trapped me in here! Or did you forget that?"

Getting a hint of his arrogance back now that his life no longer appeared to be in danger, Rumple quipped. "I acquired it, dearie. I didn't create it."

"Guess that explains why I found you sobbing like a babe in my front garden this morning 'eh?"

"Wh-h-a-t? But the flames...!"

"You saw what you expected to see Rumplestiltskin." sounding more like a strict teacher than a maid. "That's how this place works. You see whatever you imagine. It's like living in a dream that never ends."

"More like a nightmare." he muttered taking a long swig of his tea and wishing for sugar as his lips puckered at the bitter taste the tea left in his mouth.

"Hey, it's your head, Rumple. What you think of so you shall be."

"Well then why don't you use _your_ pure gentle mind to wish us right out of here?!"

"Gee. I never tried that." she quipped tossing her apple into a bowl on the table, its flesh whole and enticing once more. "That doesn't seem to be part of the rules here."

"Go on." he urged, eying the apple hungrily.

"As you can see I live quite comfortably here." she began. Rumple leaned forward and picked up the apple, turning it slowly close to his face as if he was looking for bite marks. "Anything, that is any _thing_ I wish for appears as soon as I wish for it." he took a sharp bite of the apple and smiled in triumph as the luscious juice ran down his chin. "But I cannot leave and no one ever comes to visit, no matter how much I wish for them." she paused, adding cheerily "Until today."

She watched in fascination as Rumple devoured the apple down to its core, either not wishing for more apple or not able to. She wasn't sure which one. Perhaps as she was the first...resident here, her will was dominant. "Curiouser and curiouser." she murmured, returning to her tea.

"I highly doubt _I_ was the company you were pining for."

"You were not." she stated firmly, completely unwilling to admit that her limited experience of people in her over-long life had many times in the past thirty years made her imagine him sitting right where he was, drinking HER tea, from HER cups...like equals...like friends. Though of course he had never appeared, just as Blue and Baelfire and the bloody Orphan Director had never come to tea! Suddenly furious she slammed her teacup down into its saucer with a loud clank.

"What shall we do now?" she asked him sharply, "Shall I dream you up a nice little cot in the scullery? Give you an unending amount of dishes to wash?"

"When did you grow cruel?"

"Look at who I had for a teacher."

"I was going to let you out..."

"When?!"

"When everything settled down. Trust me you would not want to have been walking around Storybrooke for the last thirty years."

"Trust you?!" _The nerve of the man_! She really _was_ considering banishing him to that scullery, but that could wait. It had been ever so long since she'd had a chat with anyone..."Tell me about this Storybrooke."

And he did.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

 _On the deck of the Jolly Roger in Neverland, Neal releases his father from Pandora's Box as David, Emma and Snow watch._ _Rumple, surprised, but overjoyed to be out of the box hugs his son. "_ _Bae." he cries._

 _"_ _Papa." his son returns the hug._

 _"Where's Henry?"_

 __ _"_ _He's safe. He's safe."_

 __ _"_ _I told you I wasn't gonna hurt the boy."  
_

 _"_ _I know, I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me Pan was your father?"_

 __ _"_ _Because I didn't want you to know I was as bad a father as he was. Because we're both the same; me and him. Because we both abandoned our sons."_

 __ _"_ _No, you're not the same. You came back for me, Papa._ _"Once again they hug._ _  
_

 _Emma_ _turned to her parents,_ _"He's back. That means..."  
_

 _"_ _He can cure me." David finished the sentence for her._

 __ _"_ _We can go home." says Snow, hugging her daughter. David join in and now everyone is hugging until quite_ _suddenly, Mr. Gold senses something terribly wrong._ _  
_

 _"_ _What's wrong?" Bae asked._

Below deck Peter Pan has returned to take back Henry's heart,

which he needs to fuel Neverland and his eternal youth.

 _"_ _Wha-what are you doing?" Henry stammered._

 __ _"_ _I wanted your heart, Henry. But your mother took it away from me. Left me for dead. What a mistake."_ _Reaching out his arm, he attempted to pull out Henry's heart, but is burned by Regina's enchantment._ _"Ugh! Oh, how clever."_ _Taking a different tack, he tears into Henry's back to rip out his shadow._

 __ _Henry cried in pain, "_ _What are you doing?!"_

 __ _Before Pan can complete his aims, Rumple appears carrying Pandora's Box._

 _"Blood magic works both ways, father." without hesitating, he opens the box and sucks his youthened father inside, but nor before Pan has a chance to swap bodies with Henry.  
_

 _"_ _No!" cried Henry out of Pan's lips as he_ _is absorbed into the box._

 __ _Regina rushes into the room,_ _"Henry? Henry? Henry!"_

 __ _"_ _It's okay. I'm okay." says Pan through Henry's lips._

 __ _"_ _Are you sure?" she asks him._

 __ _Rumple answers for his grandson, "_ _He's a strong boy, Regina. You raised him well..."_

Regina exits with PanHenry, no longer willing to let him out of her site.

Rumple stared at the box and wondered if he dared to open it again to try and release Thumbelina. Remembering the havoc his father was capable of, he decided firmly against it and as he placed the box inside a magic pocket in his coat he apologized silently to Thumbelina for having dropped his evil father on her head.

[_]

Inside Pandora's Box Thumbelina gasped as her visitor was pulled from his chair by the fire and out into the darkness that always lurked beyond her cottage. Rumple's china cup smashed into pieces as it fell to the ground. She was too shocked to imagine otherwise.

A few minutes later, having accepted that she was alone again and perhaps forever this time, she walked outside to her garden and began the unnecessary, but calming task of tending to her flowers.

The boy's arrival was so unexpected that she inadvertently snipped the head off a perfectly healthy (as all her plants were unless she wished otherwise) rose.

"Wh-ho...who might you be then?" she asked the equally astonished boy.

"I-I'm Henry."

 _Henry?..._ _Ahhh. Rumple's grandson. The one he was trying to save_. Well this would probably be a fun story to hear as they sip tea by her hearth. "Come with me Henry." she said, and tell me what mischief your grandfather has gotten himself into now.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Things were happening so fast.

All his plans were smashed.

His ego was gone along with his magic as the cuff his father had transferred to him cut him off from his power. He only had one card left to play and he knew just what he had to do with it.

 _"_ _Look at you all." Pan bragged, "A captive audience. I could play with you like a pack of dolls, couldn't I? I think I'll start with these two."_ _He walks towards Belle and Bae._ _"Hmm. You both look so adorable. Hard to tell who to kill first."_ _he pauses, considering, "_ _No, it isn't." he points at Bae,_ _"_ _You. You first."_

 __ _Rumple grabs his father and turns him away from his true love and his son,_ _"Stay away from them."_

 __ _"_ _How about this? The worm has teeth. You're here to protect their loved ones." Pan mocked._

 __ _"_ _I'm not gonna let you touch either one of them."_

 _"Oh, I'd like to see that."  
_

 _"_ _Oh, you will. Because I have a job to finish, and I have to do whatever it takes. No loopholes. And what needs to be done has a price. A price I'm finally willing to pay." He looks at his son, "I used the curse to find you, Bae, to tell you I made a mistake. To make sure you had a chance at happiness."_

 __ _Pan laughed openly at this weak display of sentiment._

 __ _"_ _And that happiness is possible." Rumple continued, "Just not with me. I accept that."_

 _"_ _Pretty, pretty words." Pan continued to mock his son._

 __ _"_ _I love you, Bae." He turned to Belle,_ _"_ _And I love you, Belle. You made me stronger."  
_

 _"_ _Stronger, yes. But still no magic." said Pan, quickly tiring of this game._

 __ _"_ _Oh, but I don't need it. You see, you may have lost your shadow, but there's one thing you're forgetting..."_

 __ _"_ _And what's_ _that_ _?" Pan asked._

 __ _"_ _So have I. I sent it away with something to hide." Rumple raised his hand into the air, summoning his shadow, who swoops in and places the Dark Dagger in his hand._ _He grabbed his father pulling him close to his chest._

 __ _"_ _What are you doing?!" Pan asked, struggling to free himself, yet completely and inexplicably unable to do so._

 __ _"_ _You see," said Rumple, "the only way for you to die, is if we both die. And now... now, I am ready." Rumple stabs Peter Pan in the back, impaling himself as well._

 _Pan screamed in agony and terror as his youth was ripped away from him, transforming him back into Malcolm, the sad middle-aged scoundrel he'd been before._

 __ _"_ _Hello, Papa." said Rumple._

 __ _"_ _Rumple, please. You can stop this. Remove the dagger. We can start over. We can have a happy ending."_

 __ _"_ _Oh, but I'm a villain. And villains don't get happy endings." Rumple twists the dagger and as a golden light begins to envelope them, he leans in and kisses him father on the cheek. One final act of forgiveness from a son to his father._

 _Both men disappear leaving only the dagger behind._

 _Belle collapses on the ground in a fit of grief. Nobody cares._

[_]

Inside Pandora's Box Thumbelina tended her garden. Alone again. Henry had been surprisingly good company. Full of stories that boy. She was going to miss him. He'd promised to rescue her of course, he so wanted to be her hero, anyone's hero really, but she wasn't convinced that it was even possible. Hope had long since deserted this place. Swallowing her disappointment, she gathered the fresh flowers she'd cut and went back into her cottage for yet another cup of tea.

[_]

I'd like to tell you that Henry told his moms right away that there was a girl trapped in the box, but there honestly wasn't time with Pan's curse crushing in on them and in all likelihood neither Regina nor Emma would know how to open it anyway.

ONE YEAR LATER

The newlywed Golds were loading up his car to head for the cemetery so that Rumple could visit his son's grave (since he wasn't able to be at the funeral because he was caged up in Zelena's storm cellar). Telling Belle to go ahead and wait in the car while he finished a few minor tasks and that he'll join her shortly, he crossed the room and picked up Pandora's Box off the counter where Belle had placed it in his...absence.

Looking behind him to make sure Belle wasn't looking in at the window, he quickly waved his hand over the box and released Thumbelina.

Thumbelina blinked and coughed away the magic and looked up...all the way up...at Rumplestiltskin.

"Still the size of my thumb I see." he said with a rueful smile.

"Must've been some weird reaction to the magic which reset me into what my body must consider my natural state at this point." she paused, "Well at least I'm free." she said, shaking the last remnants of magic out of her skirt. She looked up at Rumple again, "I _am_ free...right?"

Rumple shrugged, "Consider it a wedding present."

"Wedding?! Whose wedding? If you're telling me you sold me to some marriage minded ogre..."

"No no... _my_ wedding. This is my wedding day...well day after. Near enough."

"Whew!" she exclaimed, "For a second there I thought you were going to make me marry you..." When Rumple glared at the obvious relief she was displaying, she immediately apologized, saying she meant no offense; just that it would be weird what with her being his former maid and all.

"Belle was my maid once too." his said his glare threatening to return.

"Who's Belle?"

"My maid...'er...wife. I'm sure I mentioned her to you before."

"Nope. Embarrassed that you fell for the help are you?"

"Not in the least. I bless the day she came into my life."

"And you show your gratitude by chatting with your former maid on your honeymoon? Geez, I spent half my life as a harp and even I know that's weird."

"Perhaps I just needed to do a good deed today. Try and balance the scales if you will."

"Why? What did you do that you're so ashamed of Rumplestiltskin? I didn't think The Dark One was ashamed of anything."

Rumple looked away, "Much has changed since we last spoke." his voice shook as he told her about Baelfire's death; he even admitted to switching the daggers and to killing Zelena.

"Sounds to me like the witch had it coming." she comforted him, her voice a heady mix of anger and sadness, "I would've done the same in your place."

"Belle" he paused, "is a wonderful, kind and intelligent woman, but she lacks common sense when it comes to human nature. She thinks anyone can change and that everyone deserves a second chance... Vengeance is as foreign concept to her as forgiveness is to me."

"Sounds like those are the same qualities that allow her to see the good in you."

"I know, but..." he pulled the true dagger out of his pocket, "Perhaps she shouldn't be so quick to trust me either. I may want to be the man she desires me to be, but I don't think I can be that man again. Rumplestiltskin was WEAK before he found the darkness and I don't want to become weak again! I don't want to see the powerful and mighty trample all over my family and be powerless to stop them!"

"I understand, but you can't hide your feelings from your wife forever. She deserves to know the truth."

"But if I tell her she might decide to leave me."

"If she truly loves you, then she won't leave you just because you can't change overnight. Or even over a century."

Suddenly Belle walked back through the door to ask Rumple what was taking so long. Fortunately she didn't notice tiny Thumbelina for which Rumple is grateful.

"Just a minute Dearie. I forgot something in the back." he said, nudging Thumbelina behind a chair with the tow of his shoe as he exited to the back of his shop to retrieve the potion he'd mixed for her earlier in the day while Belle was sleeping. _Do all women sleep as much as my wife does?_ he wondered idly to himself, making a mental note to ask Charming a few questions about Snow's sleeping habits.

When he returned Belle had gone back to wait in the car and he was able to retrieve Thumbelina from behind the chair and show her the potion.

"This..." he said sitting the bottle down beside her, "...will make you full size again." he paused, glancing at the door, "But I'd appreciate it if you waited until we were well away before you use it. I have enough things to explain to my wife as it is."

"Will you tell her then...about the fake dagger?"

"Not today. She deserves a decent honeymoon at least... we're going to visit my son's grave first though. I...I wasn't able to attend the funeral and I need to pay my respects."

"May I come with you?" she asked, "I'd like to pay my respects too. He was my only friend."

Rumple glanced at the door again and sighed, "All right." he said extending his hand, "Hop up." Carefully Rumple tucked tiny Thumbelina into his pocket, and placing the potion in a separate pocket Rumple hurried out to join his mercifully patient wife.

At the gravesite, Rumple set Thumbelina and the potion down, knowing she was perfectly capable of using the potion herself once he and Belle left. Sensing Rumple needed to be alone with his son, Thumbelina wandered off to wait her turn to pay her last respects to Baelfire.

SEVERAL WEEKS LATER

Thumbelina looked up from her place behind the bar at The Rabbit Hole and smiled as her favorite customer entered.

"Nice to see you again, boss." she said, automatically pouring Rumple a scotch.

"I've told you there's no need to call me that. The bar is yours now."

"Thanks to you." she reminded him. He shrugged and took a sip of his drink. "Are you sure you want to keep hanging out with me?" he asked, glancing around at the customers who seemed less then pleased to see him here. "You owe me nothing. This business was a gift and one you justly deserved and I don't want to scare your customers away."

"What are they going to do sit in Granny's all night long? She closes at six pm. It's come here or go home so if they object to The Dark One's presence than they can jolly well sod off home." she shouted the last sentence at a pair of men who had been glaring in Rumple's direction since he'd entered the bar and she smiled in pleasant satisfaction as they hurried out of her bar, glancing nervously at the two of them on their way out.

"Careful, dearie. You'll get a bad reputation..."

"You're my _friend_ Rumple. It's not like I'm not planning to go to the dark side of the force or anything.

"What?"

"Seriously? Thirty years stuck in a town with one movie theater that played _precisely_ one movie every night for at least the first twenty-eight years...and you still managed to miss _Star Wars_?

"I'm more of a reader. So's the wife."

"Not me. It took me months to learn to read and centuries to spell properly and I still prefer a good play or, in this world, a good movie. Or a good chat.

Rumple's lips twitched in amusement as he leaned in and whispered, "Contrary to popular opinion...I don't mind a chat. Now and again...with a friend."

"Fine by me...' _Master_ '" she bowed, careful not to upset any of the glasses stored under the counter. "Just so long as this time...YOU make the tea!"

"Deal!" Rumple said, extending his hand to shake on it.


	8. Addendum

**Addendum**

"Oh come on. You want ME to _willingly_ go back into Pandora's Box just to check on your sleeping wife?"

"And to keep her company if she happens to be awake."

"You said she was under a sleeping curse."

"Yes, well there are many kinds of sleeping curses, some can only be broken by Love's FIRST Kiss, while others need a kiss of True Love and still others can be cured by...well any kiss at all."

"But I thought a sleeping curse can only be broken by True Love's Kiss? Isn't that what they teach in schools?"

"Fairy propaganda dearie. A curse is only as powerful as the one who cast it...how else do you think Hook's father escaped a sleeping curse a century after every one who _might_ have loved him was dust? Running afoul of Sully the Smelly, as papa Jones did, isn't nearly as dangerous as running afoul of well...me."

Thumbelina grinned, "Is that a threat?"

"By no means dearie, _that_ was just my roundabout way of explaining to you that magic can be unpredictable and no two curses are exactly alike no matter how much they seem to have in common."

"So...meaning?"

"That I'm a bit worried that Belle might not be asleep while she's in the box. Could be the two forms of magic cancel each other out inside and instead of being trapped in a burning red room...don't look at ME that way, dearie, I did not send her there...she might be experiencing the box the way you did..."

"When YOU locked ME inside for half a century."

"Thirty years, dearie. But let's not quibble over petty little details."

"Why don't YOU go in and check on her? She's your wife."

" _I_ have to open the box. Can't do that from the inside now can I? And Belle is your friend now too..."

"No! I won't do it. You'll just leave me in there. Again. "

"Nonsense dearie, I promise you'll be out by lunchtime. Saturday at the latest...I thought we were past all that. Don't you trust me?"

"I did until you started asking me to go back into Pandora's Box."

"Just for a few hours, dearie. You have my word on that."

"You sure I'm not going to end up in the clutches of some villain with...I don't know...a big scar down his cheek or something?"

"Now you're just being silly. Will you help me?"

Thumbelina sighed as she felt her resolve weaken.

 _I'm probably going to regret this..._ she decided.


End file.
